Forum on Religion and Ecology: Spotlights

This episode of Spotlights features Andreas Karelas,  the founder and executive director of RE-volv , a nonprofit organization that empowers people around the country to help nonprofits in their communities go solar and raise awareness about the benefits of clean energy. He is also the author of Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the...

This episode of Spotlights features André Daughtry , an award-winning speculative social documentarian who explores contemporary expressions of the spiritual, mystical, and theological in the contexts of pluralistic democracies. He talks about his latest project , WILDERNESS, a speculative documentary photography, film and performance project that engages an integral ecological approach to sustain...

This is the beginning of the third year of the podcast for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology,. This new beginning intersects with another new beginning: the Religion and Ecology unit of the American Academy of Religion has two new co-chairs, Joseph Wiebe, PhD , and Kimberly Carfore, PhD . In this episode, Joe and Kim both reflect on the past, present, and future of the academic field and acti...

In this episode of Spotlights, Sam reflects on the another successful season of podcast interviews for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology . We have released nearly 100 episodes, featuring a wide variety of scholars, activists, and artists who engage with the sort of issues addressed by the field and force of religion and ecology. We'll take a short break from new episodes for a few weeks,...

This is a clip from the episode of Spotlights featuring Jason Wirth, PhD, professor of philosophy at Seattle University, Soto Zen priest, and the founder and co-director of the Seattle University EcoSangha . He discusses his idea of "deep social ecology," which integrates the insights of two ecological philosophies often considered to be in opposition to one another: deep ecology and soc...

This episode of Spotlights features Jason Wirth, PhD , professor of philosophy at Seattle University, Soto Zen priest, and the founder and co-director of the Seattle University EcoSangha . We talk about his capacious engagements with Continental philosophy, Buddhism, ecological thought, indigenous lifeways, and more. We discuss some of his books, including Nietzsche and Other Buddhas: Philosophy a...

In this week's episode of Spotlights , Sam Mickey talks about the life and thought of a deeply influential figure in the field and force of religion and ecology, Thomas Berry (1914-2009) . Sam draws on the book about Berry's life and thought, Thomas Berry: A Biography , by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Andrew Angyal (Columbia University Press, 2019), and he concludes with a reading...

This clip is an excerpt of the Spotlights episode featuring Rabbi Ellen Bernstein . In this clip, she discusses her work with Shomrei Adamah (Keepers of the Earth) , the first national Jewish environmental organization, which she founded in 1988. While Shomrei Adamah, the organization, closed in 1996, it touched the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of people, and its message continues to reve...

In this week's episode of Spotlights , our host Sam Mickey presents some brief reflections on Father's Day, which is celebrated in North America and many other places on the third Sunday of June. Along with giving some historical context about the meaning of Father's Day, Sam gives some personal reflections about the important role that his father (Robert Mickey) had and continues t...

This clip is an excerpt of the Spotlights episode featuring Rabbi Ellen Bernstein . In this clip, she discusses her ecological interpretation of the Bible, specifically the ecological implications of the first chapter of the book of Genesis. She wrote a wonderful book on the topic, The Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology (Pilgrim Press). More information about the book can be found on the pub...

This week’s episode of Spotlights features Rabbi Ellen Bernstein , a leader and pioneer in the field of religion and ecology. She discusses her work with Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth, the first national Jewish environmental organization, which she founded in 1988. She also talks about some of her work as an author and ecotheologian, focusing on the intersection of Judaism, Bible and ecolog...

This week's episode of Spotlights is a short tribute to the memory of Rosemary Radford Ruether , who passed away on May 21, 2022, at the age of 85. She was a scholar of feminism and a Catholic theologian, well-known for her foundational work in feminist theology, including important work with ecofeminism and the field of religion and ecology. Obituaries and tributes are continuing to come out...

This is a clip from the episode of Spotlights featuring Huda Alkaff, the Founder and Director of Wisconsin Green Muslims , a grassroots group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin formed in 2005 to connect faith, environmental justice, and sustainability through education and service. In this clip, she talks about the cosmological and ecological orientation of Islam, particularly as expressed in the Quran and H...

This week's episode of Spotlights features Huda Alkaff, an ecologist and environmental educator. She discusses her work as the Founder and Director of Wisconsin Green Muslims , a grassroots group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin formed in 2005 to connect faith, environmental justice, and sustainability through education and service. She talks about ecological values expressed in the Quran and Hadith,...

This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Dan Smyer Yü, PhD, Kuige Professor of Ethnology in the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University and a Global Faculty Member at the University of Cologne. He discusses his groundbreaking work in trans-Himalayan studies, exploring the ways religion and ecology intersect in the mountains, valleys, plains, and rivers of regions...

This week's episode of Spotlights features Dan Smyer Yü, PhD, the Kuige Professor of Ethnology in the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University and a Global Faculty Member at the University of Cologne. He discusses his multifaceted, interdisciplinary work with religion and ecology, including his work with trans-Himalayan studies, Buddhism and ecology, ecological indigeneity, comm...

This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Simone Kotva , PhD, a research fellow in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In this clip, she discusses the relationship between magic and ecology, particularly in light of the ways that the practice of magic is oriented toward skillful c...

This week's episode of Spotlights features Simone Kotva, PhD , a research fellow in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Kotva is also part of a multidisciplinary research project on the Nordic Anthropocene, ECODISTURB , and she is the author of Effort and Grace: On the Spiritual Exercise o...

This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Samuel King, a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and a graduate student in Religion and Ecology at Yale Divinity School. In this clip, Sam discusses a newly developed resource: a series of MOOCs (massive, open, online courses) oriented around the study of religion and ecology across the world's diverse tra...

This week's episode of Spotlights features Samuel King, a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and a graduate student in Religion and Ecology at Yale Divinity School. Sam discusses many facets of his work, including his experience teaching courses in philosophy, religion, and interdisciplinary humanities, his creative writing practice, and his time studying environmen...

This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter , an Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and a commissioned Elder within the United Methodist Church. In this clip, he discusses the challenge of decolonizing knowledge, which he addresses in his new book, The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, & Food Justice...

This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter , an Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and a commissioned Elder within the United Methodist Church. In this clip, he discusses his notion of Black veganism, particularly in light of his new book, The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, & Food Justice (Univers...

This week’s episode of spotlights features Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter , an Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and a commissioned Elder within the United Methodist Church. Reflecting on his new book, The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, & Food Justice (University of Illinois Press, 2021), he discusses the profound importance of subverting indu...

This is a clip from our episode featuring Aaron Weiss, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA. He discusses the portability of Buddhism across cultures, as it has moved across landscapes and communities since its inception in India. Questions of cultural diffusion and cultural appropriation comes up along the way. Deta...

This week's episode of Spotlights is a clip from our interview with Norman Wirzba, PhD , the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University, and Senior Fellow at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. He reflects on the problematic assumptions of transhumanism and the importance of discerning the appropriate limits of technological and economic development. Details fo...